It has been proposed to provide a safety arrangement adapted to raise the rear part of the hood or bonnet of the motor vehicle in the event that an accident should occur in which a pedestrian is involved. The reason for lifting the rear part of the hood or bonnet is that, with the rear part of the hood or bonnet lifted, the entire bonnet is spaced from the underlying engine. The hood or bonnet may thus deform, whilst decelerating the body or head of the pedestrian, thus giving the head or body of the pedestrian a relatively slow deceleration. If the hood or bonnet were not lifted and the hood or bonnet deformed downwardly by even a short distance due to an impact with a pedestrian, that downward movement would soon terminate when the underside of the hood or bonnet impacted with the underlying engine, thus very rapidly decelerating the pedestrian with possible injury consequences.
Various proposals have been put forward as to mechanisms to achieve this objective, but it has been found difficult to provide a mechanism dimensioned to be located beneath the hood or bonnet, but which is capable of providing a sufficient degree of lift. The present invention seeks to provide an improved safety arrangement.